The
hunt for clues for what brought down an Air France jet over
the Atlantic intensified on Thursday with Brazilian navy ships
trawling for debris spotted in the crash zone.

Brazil's
government has discounted the idea of a mid-air explosion bringing
down the plane, which was carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro
to Paris when it met its fate early on Monday. No distress call
was received from the pilots.

Defence
Minister Nelson Jobim late Wednesday said a 20-kilometer (12-mile)
long fuel slick sighted in the area "means that it is improbable
that there was a fire or explosion" because the high-octane
jet-fuel would otherwise have been ignited. But he cautioned
that that was "just a hypothesis" and stressed that the mystery
of Air France flight AF 477 was far from being solved.

French
army spokesman Christophe Prazuc said France could not confirm
the statement. "We did not see the fuel slick described by our
Brazilian colleagues, so I cannot comment that information",
he told FRANCE 24. No bodies have yet been spotted but search
vessels located more debris including a seven-meter piece of
the plane.

Among
the latest clues, Brazilian newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo reported
the doomed pilot sent a message just before the plane lost contact.
Citing an unidentified Air France source - the paper said the
pilot radioed he was entering 'thick black clouds' the kind
associated with violent winds and lightning. However, French
authorities have declined to comment.

Ten
minutes later a series of electronic messages were sent from
the plane - indicating the autopilot had disengaged and an onboard
computer had switched to an alternate power system. The final
message ended with one pointing to a loss of air pressure and
electrical failure.

‘Needle
in a haystack'

Two
Brazilian navy ships arrived in the crash area, about 685 miles
(1,100 km) northeast of Brazil's coast, but had not yet retrieved
any debris by nightfall. French officials said they may never
discover why the plane went down as the flight black box and
voice recorders may be lost at the bottom of the ocean, at least
3,000 meters underwater. Experts believe that it will be near-impossible
to recover even if the 200-kilometre wide search area is narrowed
down.

"It's
equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack," said Pierre
Cochonat, of the French marine research institute Ifremer.

Two
Brazilian navy vessels, a patrol boat and a corvette, were in
the area, 1,000 kilometers off Brazil's northeast coast, officials
said.

Three
other vessels, including a tanker able to keep the flotilla
in the area for weeks, and a French ship with mini-submarines
were to arrive over coming days.

A
few of the relatives of those on board the Air France Airbus
A330 told media they still held out hope their loved ones might
have survived. But many others were resigned.

A
memorial service was to be held for the 216 passengers and 12
crew in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, with French Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner attending. On Wednesday, a similar ceremony
was conducted in Notre Dame cathedral with relatives and French
President Nicolas Sarkozy hearing a message of condolence from
Pope Benedict XVI read out to them.

France,
which lost 72 nationals, the biggest group on the plane, is
leading the probe into the disaster. Two French investigators
were already at work in Brazil, which lost 58 nationals.

The other passengers came from 30 other countries. If final
confirmation comes that all those on board the Air France plane
perished, it would be the worst disaster for the French airline
in its 70-year history.

It would also be the worst civil aviation accident since 2001,
when an American Airlines Airbus A300 crashed in New York killing
all 260 people on board. ’

June
4th, 2009,

Reuters
- Brazilian search crews fished the first debris from a crashed Air
France flight out of choppy Atlantic waters on Thursday amid concern
the plane may have flown through a storm at the wrong speed.

Citing sources close to the inquiry, French newspaper Le Monde said
the plane's maker, Airbus, was preparing to issue a recommendation advising
airlines that fly the A330 of optimal speeds during poor weather conditions.

Airbus declined to comment and the French air accident investigation
agency, which has to validate any such recommendations, was not available
for comment..

Pilots often slow down when entering stormy zones to
avoid damaging the aircraft, but reducing speed too much can cause an
aircraft's engines to stall..

A Brazilian Lynx helicopter picked up
a luggage pallet and two buoys before returning to a navy frigate sent
to the area to help with the rescue, Brazil's air force said..

The
crews also found yellow, brown and white items that appeared to come
from the inside of the aircraft..

Searchers have found several debris
sites spread out over 90 km (56 miles), a sign the plane may have broken
up in the air..

The Air France A330-200 was en route from Rio de Janeiro
to Paris when it plunged into the Atlantic four hours into its flight.
Air France has told relatives of the 228 people on board there is no
hope of survivors..

Experts have been mystified by the sudden crash
of a modern airliner operated by three experienced pilots, with theories
on the cause ranging from extreme turbulence to a loss of cabin pressure
to possible computer system faults..

Three Brazilian navy ships are
searching the area about 1,100 km (680 miles) northeast of Brazil's
coast, but have yet to reach the debris. Searchers have seen no traces
of bodies..

"We were giving priority to finding bodies, but as we
haven't found any we have time to collect the debris," Air Force Brigadier
Ramon Borges Cardoso told reporters in the northern coastal city of
Recife. "If we find bodies, we will stop everything and bring them here.".

From a base on the islands of Fernando de Noronha, a sparsely populated
volcanic archipelago 370 km (230 miles) from Brazil's coast, 11 air
force planes have been carrying out search operations over a 6,000 sq
km (2,300 sq mile) area..

Several hundred relatives and friends of
the passengers crammed into the Candelaria church in Rio on Thursday
morning, crying and hugging each other..

"Those who are missing are
here in our hearts and in our memories," French Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner told them..

SUDDEN, BRUTAL CRASH.

Brazil's defense minister
Nelson Jobim said on Wednesday the presence of long fuel stains in the
water could mean the crash was not caused by an explosion, which would
have burned the fuel..

Jobim's remarks undercut speculation that a
bomb may have blown up the plane in mid-air, a possibility intelligence
services and security analysts say seems unlikely..

French authorities
have not excluded the possibility of foul play. With the flight data
and voice recorders probably at the bottom of the ocean, officials are
worried they may never discover what caused AF Flight 447 to drop out
of the sky..

The crash appears to have been sudden and brutal..

Spanish newspaper El Mundo said a transatlantic airline pilot reported
seeing a flash of white light at the same time the Air France flight
disappeared..

"Suddenly we saw in the distance a strong, intense flash
of white light that took a downward, vertical trajectory and disappeared
in six seconds," the pilot of an Air Comet flight from Lima to Madrid
told his company, the newspaper reported..

The plane sent a series
of automatic messages in the space of four minutes indicating system
failures and a sharp dive, specialist magazine Aviation Herald said
on its Web site, citing Air France sources..

The messages started
arriving at 0210 GMT on Monday, indicating the automatic pilot had been
disengaged, and ended at 0214 with an advisory that the cabin was at
"vertical speed.".

A problem with the aircraft's speed could be part
of the puzzle, but one expert said it was doubtful whether any of the
plane's flight readings were accurate in its final moments..

"Was the airplane going slowly or was it indicating that it was going
slowly? There's a big difference." said John Cox, President of Washington
aviation consulting firm Safety Operating Systems.

1810
GMT: Air France releases the full passenger list, showing that most
of those aboard are Brazilians or French. There are 32 nationalities
in all.

1651
GMT: French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the prospect of finding survivors
from the flight is "very slim".

1632
GMT: An Air France spokesman confirms there are 80 Brazilians on board
the missing plane, as well as German, Italian, American, Chinese, British
and Spanish citizens.

1515
GMT: It is reported that most of the 228 people on board the missing
airliner are Brazilian, while at least 40 are French and 20 are German,
according to a French minister.

1303
GMT: Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he fears British citizens may
be on board the aircraft.

1213
GMT: Air France suggests the electrical fault may have been caused by
the plane suffering a lightning strike.

1142
GMT: Air France confirms it received a message about an electrical fault
from the aircraft.

1140
GMT: Brazil's air force says Flight AF 447 was "well advanced" over
the Atlantic Ocean when it went missing.

1116
GMT: Senior French minister Jean-Louis Borloo says the plane would have
run out of fuel by this point, and adds: "We must now envisage the most
tragic scenario." He rules out a hijacking.

1036
GMT: Air France confirms it is "without news" from the aircraft.

1017
GMT: Brazil's air force confirms a search and rescue operation is under
way near the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha.

0935
GMT: Paris airport officials announce to the public that flight AF 447
is missing.

0910
GMT: Aircraft was due to land at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

0715
GMT: Air France decided "the situation was serious", according to the
airline's chief executive Pierre Henri Gourgeon. Plans to establish
a crisis centre are drawn up.

0214
GMT: According to the airline, an automated message was received indicating
an "electrical circuit malfunction" on board.

0200
GMT: The aircraft crossed through a "thunderous zone with strong turbulence"
according to an Air France statement.

0148
GMT: AF 477 leaves zone of radar surveillance off the Fernando de Noronha
islands, about 350 km (217 miles) off the coast of Brazil.

0133
GMT: Last radio contact with flight AF 447, according to the Brazilian
air force.

SUNDAY
31 MAY

2200
GMT: AF 447 takes off from Rio de Janeiro's Galeao International Airport,
heading for Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Debris
Confirms Crash Of Air France Flight 447

Brazil
Tuesday confirmed the debris found earlier on the open Atlantic
Ocean belonged to Air France Flight 447, solidifying the crash of
the jet that went missing early Monday.

Associated
Press: FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil - An airplane seat, a fuel slick
and pieces of white debris scattered over three miles of open ocean
marked the site in the mid-Atlantic today where Air France Flight
447 plunged to its doom, Brazil's defense minister said.

Brazilian military pilots spotted the wreckage, sad reminders bobbing
on waves, in the ocean 400 miles northeast of these islands off
Brazil's coast. The plane carrying 228 people vanished Sunday about
four hours into its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

"I
can confirm that the five kilometers of debris are those of the
Air France plane," Defense Minister Nelson Jobim told reporters
at a hushed news conference in Rio. He said no bodies had been found
and there was no sign of life.

The effort to recover the debris and locate the all-important black
box recorders, which emit signals for only 30 days, is expected
to be exceedingly challenging.

"We are in a race against the clock in extremely difficult weather
conditions and in a zone where depths reach up to 7,000 meters (22,966
feet)," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told lawmakers in
parliament today.

Brazilian military pilots first spotted the floating debris early
today in two areas about 35 miles apart, said Air Force spokesman
Jorge Amaral. The area is not far off the flight path of Flight
447.

Jobim said the main debris field was found near where the initial
signs were spotted.

The cause of the crash will not be known until the black boxes are
recovered - which could take days or weeks. But weather and aviation
experts are focusing on the possibility of a collision with a brutal
storm that sent winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) straight into the airliner's
path.

"The airplane was flying at 500 mph (800 km/h) northeast and the
air is coming at them at 100 mph," said AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist
Henry Margusity. "That probably started the process that ended up
in some catastrophic failure of the airplane."

Towering Atlantic storms are common this time of year near the equator
- an area known as the intertropical convergence zone. "That's where
the northeast trade winds meet the southeast trade winds - it's
the meeting place of the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere's
weather," Margusity said.

But several veteran pilots of big airliners said it was extremely
unlikely that Flight 447's crew intended to punch through a killer
storm.

"Nobody in their right mind would ever go through a thunderstorm,"
said Tim Meldahl, a captain for a major U.S. airline who has flown
internationally for 26 years, including more than 3,000 hours on
the same A330 jetliner.

Pilots often work their way through bands of storms, watching for
lightning flashing through clouds ahead and maneuvering around them,
he said.

"They may have been sitting there thinking we can weave our way
through this stuff," Meldahl said. "If they were trying to lace
their way in and out of these things, they could have been caught
by an updraft."

The same violent weather that might have led to the crash also could
impede recovery efforts.

"Anyone who is going there to try to salvage this airplane within
the next couple of months will have to deal with these big thunderstorms
coming through on an almost daily basis," Margusity said. "You're
talking about a monumental salvage effort."

Remotely controlled submersible crafts will have to be used to recover
wreckage settling so far beneath the ocean's surface. France dispatched
a research ship equipped with unmanned submarines that can explore
as deeply as 19,600 feet.

A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion surveillance plane - which can fly low over
the ocean for 12 hours at a time and has radar and sonar designed
to track submarines underwater - and a French AWACS radar plane
are joining the operation.

France also has three military patrol aircraft flying over the central
Atlantic, two commercial ships reached the floating debris, and
Brazilian navy ships were en route.

Even at great underwater pressure, the black boxes "can survive
indefinitely almost," said Bill Voss, president and CEO of the Flight
Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia.

"They're very rugged and sophisticated, virtually indestructible."

Voss said he expected the recovery process to go quickly.

"I'm hoping they'll have stuff up in a month, if not just a few
weeks," he said.

Rescuers were still scanning a vast sweep of ocean. If no survivors
are found, it would be the world's worst civil aviation disaster
since the November 2001 crash of an American Airlines jetliner in
the New York City borough of Queens that killed 265 people.

Investigators have few clues to help explain what brought the Airbus
A330 down. The crew made no distress call before the crash, but
the plane's system sent an automatic message just before it disappeared,
reporting lost cabin pressure and electrical failure.

Brazilian officials described a three-mile strip of wreckage, and
have refused to draw any conclusions about what that pattern means.
But Jack Casey, an aviation safety consultant in Washington, D.C.,
and former accident investigator for airlines and aircraft manufacturers,
said it could indicate the Air France jetliner came apart before
it hit the water.

A debris field of that length that is strung out in a rough line
rather than in a circle, especially when an airplane comes down
from a high altitude, "typically indicates it didn't come down in
one piece," Casey said. "But it doesn't have to be a jillion little
pieces. It can come down in three or four main pieces, and then
the ocean drift takes care of the rest."

Casey cautioned it's possible, although less likely, that the plane
did not break apart and spread of the debris field is due entirely
to ocean drift. Since the disaster happened in violent weather,
thunderstorms and deep ocean swells could have scattered the debris
during the 32 hours that passed before it was spotted today.

"The big thing to understand right now is we don't know," said Casey,
chief operation officer of Safety Operating Systems LLB. "These
are tough airplanes. They don't just come apart."

A330-200
Cabin Layout

A330-200
Specifications

As of April 2009,
Airbus Total Orders, 557, Total Deliveries are 343, and 341 A330-200 Planes
are in operation.

Air
France plane AF447 (A330-200) disappears
off radar over the Atlantic " Flight was on its way from Brazil to Paris with 228 on
board; Brazil says automatic message from plane reported loss of pressure
as well as electrical fault "

Flight
from Brazil missing over Atlantic AP Video Monday, Jun. 01, 2009 10:44AM
EDT An Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris
is missing after running into lightning and strong thunderstorms over
the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil began a search mission off its northeastern
coast. (June. 1)

See the CNN reports on June 1st, 2009:

PARIS, France
(CNN) -- An Air France plane feared to have crashed in the Atlantic
with 228 people aboard reported electrical problems in stormy weather
before it lost contact, the airline said Monday, describing the loss
as a "catastrophe."

Officials said
the Airbus A330-200 sent automated messages of electrical failure
and pressure loss as it hit turbulence, vanishing from the radar early
in its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Charles de Gaulle airport in
Paris.

Brazil and
France have scrambled search and rescue aircraft on both sides of
the Atlantic, but with a vast area to scour, there were dwindling
hopes of finding survivors.

France's President
Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "very deep concern" over the loss of
flight AF447. Sarkozy was reported to be heading to Charles de Gaulle
where a crisis center has been set up for grieving relatives.

The loss of
a relatively new model of one of the aviation sector's most reliable
and state-of-the-art aircraft has stunned analysts who say it would
take extremely violent weather to bring down such a large jet.

Former Airbus pilot John Wiley told CNN that speculation lightning
had brought down the plane was likely to prove unfounded since most
modern passenger aircraft were capable of withstanding direct strikes.

The last known
contact with the plane -- carrying 126 men, 82 women, seven children
and a baby, plus the crew -- was at 0133 GMT Monday (8:33 p.m. Sunday
ET), according to the Brazilian Air Force.

Brazil says it has launched two air force squadrons to hunt near the
archipelago of Fernando de Noronha in the Atlantic Ocean, 365 kilometers
(226 miles) from its coast, although the plane vanished outside the
country's radar coverage.

The Air Force said the jet was last logged flying at an altitude of
10,600 meters (35,000 feet) before contact was lost. When the plane
failed to make further contact, Brazilian air controllers contacted
their counterparts in Senegal.

France's ambassador
to Senegal told CNN affiliate BFMTV that French military aircraft
had been dispatched to search the west African country's coast.

Air France
has set up a hotline in connection with the incident: 0800 800 812
in France, or +33 157021055 for international callers.

Th airline's
CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told a news conference: "I can say without
doubt that this is a catastrophe." He said: "The entire Air France
company and its staff are very moved and affected by this."

Air France
has also set up a hotline: 0800 800 812 in France, or +33 157021055
for international callers.

Airbus has opened a crisis room and their flight safety team is in
place, a company spokesperson told CNN. Airbus is working closely
with authorities and Air France, he said, declining to comment further.

Gourgeon said the aircraft involved was a new Airbus piloted by a
"particularly experienced crew."

Analyst Kieran Daly of online aviation news service Air Transport
Intelligence told CNN that the lack of communication with the aircraft
"does suggest it was something serious and catastrophic."

CNN air travel
expert Richard Quest says the twin-engine plane, a stalwart of transatlantic
routes, has an impeccable safety record, with only one fatal incident
involving a training flight in 1994.

"It has very good range, and is extremely popular with airlines because
of its versatility," he said.

Airbus said the aircraft involved in the incident had totaled 18,870
flight hours since entering service in 18 April 2005. Its last maintenance
check in the hangar took place on 16 April 2009.

-- French
President Nicolas Sarkozy told families of those aboard Monday that
"prospects of finding survivors are very small."

The area where
the plane could have gone down is vast, in the middle of very deep
Atlantic Ocean waters between Brazil and the coast of Africa. Brazil's
military searched for it off its northeast coast, while the French
military scoured the ocean near the Cape Verde Islands off the West
African coast.

If all 228
were killed, it would be the world's deadliest commercial airline
disaster since 2001.

Sarkozy, speaking
at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, said the cause is unclear and
that "no hypothesis" is being excluded. He called it "a catastrophe
like Air France has never before known."

"(I met with)
a mother who lost her son, a fiancee who lost her future husband.
I told them the truth," he said.

Sarkozy said
"it will be very difficult" to find the plane because the zone where
it is believed to have disappeared "is immense." He said France has
asked for U.S. satellite help to locate the plane.

Chief Air
France spokesman Francois Brousse said "it is possible" the plane
was hit by lightning, but aviation experts expressed doubt that a
bolt of lightning was enough to bring the plane down.

Air France
Flight 447, a 4-year-old Airbus A330, left Rio Sunday night with 216
passengers and 12 crew members on board, said company spokeswoman
Brigitte Barrand.

The plane
indicated it was still flying normally more than three hours later
as it left Brazil radar contact, beyond the Fernando de Noronha archipelago,
at 10:48 local time (0148 GMT, 9:48 p.m. EDT). It was flying at 35,000
feet (10,670 meters) and traveling at 522 mph (840 kph).

About a half-hour
later, the plane "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence."
It sent an automatic message fourteen minutes later at 0214 GMT (10:14
p.m. EDT Sunday) reporting electrical failure and a loss of cabin
pressure.

Air France
told Brazilian authorities the last information they heard was that
automated message, reporting a technical problem before the plane
reached a monitoring station near the Cape Verde islands. Brazilian,
African, Spanish and French air traffic controllers tried in vain
to establish contact with the plane, the company said.

Brazilian
Air Force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said seven aircraft had been
deployed to search the area far off the northeastern Brazilian coast.
Brazil's Navy sent three ships.

"We want to
try to reach the last point where the aircraft made contact, which
is about 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) northeast of Natal," Amaral
told Globo TV.

Meteorologists
said tropical storms are much more violent than thunderstorms in the
United States and elsewhere.

"Tropical
thunderstorms ... can tower up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). At
the altitude it was flying, it's possible that the Air France plane
flew directly into the most charged part of the storm - the top,"
Henry Margusity, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, said in
a statement.

Portuguese
air control authorities say the missing plane did not make contact
with controllers in Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores Islands nor, as
far as they know, with other Atlantic air traffic controllers in Cape
Verde, Casablanca, or the Canary islands.

In Washington,
a Pentagon official said he'd seen no indication that terrorism or
foul play was involved. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to
the sensitive nature of the subject.

The 216 passengers
included 126 men, 82 women, 7 children and a baby, Air France said.
There were 61 French and 58 Brazilians; 30 other countries were represented,
including two Americans.

In Brazil,
sobbing relatives were flown to Rio de Janeiro, where Air France was
assisting the families. Andres Fernandes, his eyes tearing up, said
a relative "was supposed to be on the flight, but we need to confirm
it," Globo TV reported.

At the Charles
de Gaulle airport north of Paris, family members declined to speak
to reporters and were brought to a cordoned-off crisis center.

Air France
said it expressed "its sincere condolences to the families and loved
ones of the passengers and crew members" aboard Flight 447. The airline
did not explicitly say there were no survivors, leaving that subject
to Sarkozy.

Air France-KLM
CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said the pilot had 11,000 hours of flying
experience, including 1,700 hours flying this aircraft.

Experts said
the absence of a mayday call meant something happened very quickly.

"The conclusion
to be drawn is that something catastrophic happened on board that
has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled
fashion," Jane's Aviation analyst Chris Yates told The Associated
Press. "Potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that
the pilot on board didn't have a chance to make that emergency call."

But aviation
experts said the risk the plane was brought down by lightning was
slim.

"Lightning
issues have been considered since the beginning of aviation. They
were far more prevalent when aircraft operated at low altitudes. They
are less common now since it's easier to avoid thunderstorms," said
Bill Voss, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria,
Va.

He said planes
have specific measures built in to help dissipate electricity along
the aircraft's skin, and are tested for resistance to big electromagnetic
shocks and equipped to resist them. He said the plane should be found,
because it has backup locators that should continue to function even
in deep water.

If all 228
people were killed, it would be the deadliest commercial airline disaster
since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines jetliner crashed in
the New York City borough of Queens during a flight to the Dominican
Republic, killing 265 people. On Feb. 19, 2003, 275 people were killed
in the crash of an Iranian military plane carrying members of the
Revolutionary Guards as it prepared to land at Kerman airport in Iran.

The worst
single-plane disaster was in 1985 when a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747
crashed into a mountainside after losing part of its tail fin, killing
520 people.

"Our thoughts
are with the passengers and with the families of the passengers,"
said Airbus spokeswoman Maggie Bergsma.

She said it
was the first fatal accident of a A330-200 since a test flight in
1994 went wrong, killing seven people in Toulouse.

---------------------------------------------.

The Airbus
A330-200 is a twin-engine, long-haul, medium-capacity passenger jet
that can hold up to 253 passengers. There are 341 in use worldwide,
flying up to 7,760 miles (12,500 kilometers) a trip.

The A330-200
was developed to compete with the Boeing 767-300ER. The A330-200 is
similar to the A340-200 or a shortened version of the A330-300. With
poor sales of the A340-200 (of which only 28 were built), Airbus decided
to use the fuselage of the A340-200 with the wings and engines of
the A330-300. This significantly improved the economics of the plane
and made the model more popular than the four-engined variant.

Its vertical
fin is taller than that of the A330-300 to restore its effectiveness
due to the shorter moment arm of the shorter fuselage. It has additional
fuel capacity and, like the A330-300, has a Maximum Take-Off Weight
(MTOW) of 233 tonnes. Typical range with 253 passengers in a three-class
configuration is 12,500 km (6,750 nautical miles).

Power is provided
by two General Electric CF6-80E, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce
Trent 700 engines. All engines are ETOPS-180 min rated. First customer
deliveries, to ILFC/Canada 3000, were in April 1998. It is being used
in more than 15,000 airplanes.

The A330-200
is the newest member of Airbus' widebody twinjet family and is a long
range, shortened development of the standard A330, developed in part
as a replacement for the A300-600R and a competitor to the 767-300ER.
The Boeing equivalent is currently the 767-300ER and in the future
will be the 787-8.

The 767-300ER
is the extended-range version of the -300. It first flew in 1986 and
received its first commercial orders when American Airlines purchased
several in 1987. The aircraft entered service with AA in 1988. In
1995, EVA Air used a 767-300ER to inaugurate the first transpacific
767 service. The -300ER has a takeoff run of up to 11,800 ft (3,600
m). The 767-300ER can be retrofitted with blended winglets from Aviation
Partners Boeing. These winglets are 11 ft (3.4 m) long and will decrease
fuel consumption an estimated 6.5% on the -300ER.

Although media
shows that it may be very difficult to find the plane because of the
zone, thoughts
and sincere prayers for those of who are related this incident and
hope there is better news to come....